Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the mentor apprentice program is in its second year of operation, which is still considered a pilot. So after one year, it was expanded based on feedback and a program evaluation that was conducted. So as I mentioned earlier, there are now six Indigenous governments and six languages being supported through that program. So there is an annual allocation right now of $300,000 for that program, and that program is an annual intake where ECE provides support for mentors and apprentices to come together. So those funding provides for training supports and information for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister mentioned, it's through the Indigenous language action plan, which is broken into, really, two parts. One part is on revitalization, and the other part is on services. And over the past number of years as ECE has been implementing that action plan, the focus has been on revitalization because there's an urgent need to arrest the decline in languages in various language communities across the territory.

So under that action plan, the number of actions that the Minister referenced, such as the mentor apprentice program, are meant to do just that. So in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are I should back up and say that a number of our initiatives under Indigenous languages all link back to our Indigenous languages strategy and action plan, which was built upon engagements with Indigenous governments and organizations and other partners. Those actions include funding for broadcasting societies for radio, community radio. Those are in different budget lines. And there are also funding that's provided to create regional resources, products, apps. They've been used for applications, you know, for phones and for tablets and so on and so forth. So...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister mentioned in his opening remarks, ECE's contribution to the governmentwide travel reduction was a little over $400,000. In applying that reduction across the department, we looked at the various branches and divisions where staff conduct travel. So where there was previously a larger travel budget available, we made larger cuts commensurate to those organizations. So in this activity, the Indigenous language group would be providing travel support to Indigenous language communities as well as to education bodies for training and things of that nature. So...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So that, I think, is just an internal move from grants to contributions. So the total amount of funding allocated for Indigenous language revitalization would not have changed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister mentioned, there are a number of art specific funding programs that the department delivers through the culture and heritage division. Those programs include support for northern performers, arts organizations operating contributions, heritage centres contribution programming, and Indigenous cultural organization contributions. As well, there is the arts council and it has funding that is provided through the council, makes the decision with regional representation I should say, about which projects should be approved during two intakes each fiscal...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just believe those are year over year changes to that funding to actuals. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So as the Minister indicated, the Prince of Wales Centre has not received an increase of funding. But to maybe expand on that comment about the revenue study.

This is meant to be the final component of a more comprehensive planning study to look at the museum. The Member may recall that ECE embarked on with the assistance of Infrastructure and a contractor, an analysis of the mid life retrofit for the Prince of Wales, and the initial figures that came back were significant, 160 to $170 million required. We revised those numbers down to look at a more realistic...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So to specifically answer the Member's questions, the early learning and childcare funding and the Indigenous languages funding are distinct. So a licensed program offering childcare would not be accessing the types of programs and services offered for Indigenous languages. But with that being said, as the Minister mentioned, the existing early learning and childcare funding that the department has includes funding grants for cultural and language programming as well as other activities such as training. And there is what's known as an early learning framework which is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. To be honest, not a huge amount of interdepartmental work on that issue has occurred in the past but it is an area of opportunity.

One of the things that the Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat has done of late is establish a new committee across government with all departments. So Indigenous language coordinators in each department now have a form to meet regularly with ILE staff, share information, provide feedback on initiatives, and to move the needle forward in terms of the ability of departments and agencies to provide services. Thank you, Madam Chair.